2026年2月3日 / 美国东部时间上午10:07 / CBS新闻
美国国家航空航天局（NASA）周一宣布，其探测器已启动绘制日球层边界的任务。日球层是太阳系周围由太阳形成的巨大保护性气泡。
该机构的星际映射与加速探测器（IMAP）预计将执行两年任务，通过科学仪器绘制日球层边界及其内部情况。
探测器正专注于研究从太阳表面爆发的高能粒子、行星间形成的磁场，以及银河系更远处坍缩恒星留下的尘埃。
NASA表示：”该航天器研究太阳活动以及日球层边界与外部局部银河系区域的相互作用。”
这项任务可能帮助科学家回答有关宇宙的基本问题。科学家们还希望它能帮助他们理解NASA所说的”日球物理学中两个最重要的首要问题：太阳带电粒子的能量化，以及太阳风在其边界与星际空间的相互作用。”
它还将深入了解太阳活动对空间天气的影响，以及这些模式与太阳耀斑、太阳风暴和日冕物质抛射等现象之间的关系。NASA称，跟踪空间天气并实时广播相关状况可能有助于预报员”就潜在的不利空间天气对航天器和宇航员健康与安全的影响发出高级预警”。
美国国家海洋和大气管理局（NOAA）的空间天气预报中心目前利用IMAP任务数据提供空间天气状况更新。该中心周二早些时候的最新预警称，美国东部时间周一晚上7点前发生了一次强烈太阳耀斑。科学家将其描述为太阳表面的”能量爆发”，这种强度的耀斑可能会影响地球通信长达数小时。
NASA的IMAP任务是在研究人员发现太阳活动长期平静后出现持续增强趋势之后启动的。他们于9月发表的研究表明，过去约16年中太阳活动逐渐增强，科学家称这种反转可能影响地球的空间天气和技术。
NASA begins mission to map the boundaries of our heliosphere
February 3, 2026 / 10:07 AM EST / CBS News
A NASA probe has started its mission to map the heliosphere, which is a huge protective bubble around the solar system that was created by the sun, the space agency announced on Monday.
The space agency’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, or IMAP, is expected to continue its mission for two years, using scientific instruments to chart the boundaries of the heliosphere and what’s going on inside of it.
The probe is focusing on high-energy particles bursting from the surface of the sun, the magnetic fields that form in the spaces between planets, and the dust left behind by collapsed stars farther out in the galaxy.
“The spacecraft studies the Sun’s activity and how the heliosphere’s boundary interacts with the local galactic neighborhood beyond,” NASA said.
The mission could help scientists answer fundamental questions about the universe. Scientists also hope it will help them understand what NASA says are “two of the most important overarching issues in heliophysics, namely the energization of charged particles from the Sun and the interaction of the solar wind at its boundary with interstellar space.”
https://youtu.be/omv-fxd4EAE?si=L05XVWStjt6lAjVC
It will also give insight into solar activity’s influence over space weather, and the relationships between those patterns and phenomena like solar flares, solar storms and coronal mass ejections. NASA said tracking space weather and broadcasting near-real-time observations about the conditions may be helpful for forecasters as they “issue advanced warnings and alerts of potential adverse space weather effects on the health and safety of spacecraft and astronauts.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center now provides updates on space weather conditions using data from the IMAP mission. Its last update early Tuesday warned of a strong solar flare that occurred Monday evening just before 7 p.m. ET. Described by scientists as “eruptions of energy” from the sun’s surface, flares as powerful as this latest one can potentially impact communication on Earth for up to a few hours, according to the prediction center.
NASA’s IMAP mission began shortly after researchers pinpointed[a steady increase in solar activity] following a decades-long lull. Their study, published in September, showed that the sun became more and more active over the last 16 or so years, in a reversal that scientists said may affect space weather and technology on Earth.
发表回复